[Microbial transformation of biogenic elements in sapropel silts of Kalamitsky Bay of the Black Sea].

Results are presented on determining the abundance of some physiological groups of bacteria taking part in the processes of the turnover cycle of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus in the surface layer and to the depth of 75 cm of bottom sediments in the Kalamitsky Bay of the Black Sea. A wide distribution and mass development of anaerobic heterotrophic, lipolytic, oil oxidizing, nitrogen fixating, sulfur reducing microbes and sulphur oxidizing colorless sulfur bacteria are shown. The presence of bacteria degrading cellulose in the 44-54 cm layer of the sediment column and dissolving unsoluble phosphorus compounds of bacteria in the 1-3 and 44-54 cm layers of bottom sediments has been recorded. The high abundance of microbes of certain physiological groups, which distribution zones are not limited to upper centimeters of silts, may serve as the evidence for the active part of bacteriobenthos in the diagenesis of bottom sediments in deep-water areas of the Black Sea.